A correlation between the tribological and mechanical properties of short carbon fibers reinforced PEEK materials with different fiber orientations

In this work the effect of fiber orientation on the mechanical and tribological properties of SCF (short carbon fibers)/PTFE (poly-tetra-fluor-ethylene)/graphite filled PEEK (poly-ether-ether-keton) composites was studied. The composites were manufactured by using injection molding technique. Mechanical and tribological experiments were conducted to measure the compression modulus, compression strength and wear resistance. A correlation of the tribological and mechanical properties considering different fiber orientations was studied. Additionally to the fiber orientation influence, the wear resistance under low and high pressures was examined. The results analyses, based on scratch experiments and scanning electron microscope (SEM) inspections explain how the fiber orientation influences the mechanical performance and the tribological properties of the considered materials. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.